Tariffying Times: Trump’s Declaration of Economic Chaos

America's "Liberation Day" Seems Like Everyone Else's Nightmare

It’s the type of policy a conspiracy theorist would announce.

The event was titled “Make America Wealthy Again”. I watched it from the Times live updates; I only watched for the first 10-15 minutes, but boy oh boy, there was some interesting language…

“For decades our country has been looted, plundered and raped…”

“Watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs…”

“It’s our declaration of economic independence…”

“With today’s actions we are going to finally be able to Make America Great Again, greater than ever before.”

"This will be an entirely different country in a short period of time. The whole world will be talking about it."

The general argument I was able to put together is this; the United States was super rich from 1789-1913 because of tariffs, but then we stopped tariffs in favor of using the income tax, which Donald Trump sees as bad (he fails to mention that the United States moved to the income tax because it brings in more money from rich people, while tariffs hurt low-income folks the most). THIS non-expert wonders if this low-key means he doesn’t want to provide social services anymore, too.. but, the moment of truth arrives, and my attention is diverted.

As an aide hands him a large posterboard marked with the names of different countries and their new tariff rates, he’s droning on about how nice the US is being to all the countries by only charging them half the tariff that the country charges us… and then, without further explanation for where they got these numbers in the first place, he starts naming them one by one. China, 34%. EU, 20%... PLUS a baseline tariff on all imports, period.

I was done listening to the President after that, because the numbers were finally out, and the Times live updates started to chirp with more frequency;

April 2, 2025, 4:29 p.m. ET

Tony Romm Economic policy reporter

Many of these tariff rates seem much higher than some economists and policymakers had been expecting.

April 2, 2025, 4:29 p.m. ET

Ana Swanson International trade reporter

Trump says the United States will calculate a tariff rate for other countries based on tariffs and “other forms of cheating.” These tariff rates are quite high. He says China will face a 34 percent tariff, while the European Union will be 20 percent. Japan will be 24 percent and India 26 percent.

So, it’s clear there’s gonna be some EPIC anger over this today. I’m moving to the BBC next.

America's future will be built with 'American hands' - Trump

published at 13:55

"Every Republican congressman and senator must unify," in order to pass a budget that Trump can support, he says.

"From this day on we're not gonna let anyone tell American workers and families that they cannot have the future that they deserve."

He says that America's future will be built with "American hands, with American hearts, and American Steel".

Such lovely language for such disastrous policy. The language he finished his speech with is quite telling:

'A day you're going to look back on in years to come' - Trump

published at 14:05

"We're going to have a very free and beautiful nation. It's going to be Liberation Day in America," Trump said, as he began to wrap up his speech.

"And it's going to be a day that you're hopefully going to look back on in years to come. And you're going to say: 'You know, he was right. This has turned out to be one of the most important days in the history of our country.'"

So here’s the thing; for all his blustering and all the absolute lying straight to our faces about almost everything else… I think he truly believes in this. And that SUCKS for us, because if he digs his heels in, he’s basically rewriting the rules of the global economy.

Myanmar, 44%. Bangladesh, 37%. Taiwan, 32%. Cambodia, 49%.

I see they didn’t charge an additional tariff to Afghanistan beyond the new 10% tariff… how very kind of them.

Libya, 31%. Lesotho, 50%.

It’s every single trading partner. It’s worldwide.

I’m switching to Reuters now;

FINALLY!!!!! US Senate passes bill aimed at stopping Trump tariffs on Canada

• Four Republicans voted yes! It’s not much, but it’s a crack!!

• Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul

  • I am not accustomed to feeling grateful for these particular individuals

It’s unlikely to pass in the House, but that’s okay; it sends a message, and that’s all we need it to do… you’re starting to lose your unified front, Trump…

Reuters is also reporting that Trump’s approval rating is at 43%... and that poll was surely conducted before this tariff announcement, so this might end up being the highest approval he sees for a while.

Futures are down 4% so far.

I’m over at the New York Times again, and it appears that Asian markets plunged when trading began just a few minutes ago.

LOOK AT HOW NICELY Brazil phrased this ish:

April 2, 2025, 7:11 p.m. ET

Jack Nicas Reporting from Rio de Janeiro

Brazil’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the idea that a new 10 percent tariff was needed to restore balance between the two countries’ trade relationship “does not reflect reality,” because the United States has run a trade surplus with Brazil for 15 years, totaling $410 billion in goods and services.

He’s stunned the whole world. The news is coming in so, so fast:

April 2, 2025, 7:01 p.m. ET

River Akira Davis Reporting from Tokyo

Trade experts in Japan were caught off guard by Trump’s 24 percent tariff on Japanese products, given that Japan’s average tariff on non-agricultural goods is approximately 2.4 percent, among the lowest in the world.

One interesting thing to note is that Cuba, Belarus, North Korea, and Russia are not subject to reciprocal tariffs:

April 2, 2025, 6:30 p.m. ET

Zolan Kanno-Youngs Reporting from the Rose Garden

A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the tariffs in detail, said Cuba, Belarus, North Korea and Russia are not subject to the reciprocal tariffs announced Wednesday because “they are already facing extremely high tariffs and our previously imposed sanctions preclude any meaningful trade with these countries.”

It’s clear that the world is VERY nervous about these tariffs, and people with respectable titles are saying that the consequences will be heavy:

April 2, 2025, 6:09 p.m. ET

Joe Rennison Financial markets reporter

Dan Ives, a veteran tech analyst at Wedbush, described the tariffs as “worse than the worst case” for Wall Street, highlighting the 34 percent tariff on goods from China as “the jaw dropper.” “Tech stocks will clearly be under major pressure on this announcement,” he said.

ALSO: Consider that China was already facing 20% tariff rates… this is ON TOP of those tariffs, which is how you end up with a headline like this:

It’s not the first time I’ve predicted a really bad next day for the stock market, and I’ve been wrong plenty of times!

Tomorrow’s gonna be a really bad day for the stock market.

Life, in general, is gonna be really expensive for a while. We haven’t even been hit with the retaliatory tariffs from other countries yet, and they’re definitely coming.

I’m not sure what to say… I don’t want life to become impossible for so many people, but when I think of America, the country, there’s a part of me that feels as if we deserve the pain that’s coming.

It was self-inflicted, after all.